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tv   Weekends With Alex Witt  MSNBC  December 7, 2013 4:00am-5:01am PST

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thank you. that's "hardball" for now. and i want to thank everyone for being with us tonight here. and thank you to president obama of course for being our guest on the "hardball" college tour. and also to the american university for hosting us. good night. ice storm. a massive cold sweeps through a large part of the country. and it's not over. most parts will get hit with more. a live report next. back to work. making sense of the new jobs numbers. has the economy turned the corner when it comes to the economy. we'll hear from president bill clinton. motor city master pieces. the latest on possibly selling artwork opened by detroit. could it pull the city it of bankruptcy, and should it?
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good morning, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex wit witt". president obama surging congress to extend benefits for 1.3 million workers. they are set to expire just three days after christmas. >> if congress refuses to act it won't just hurt families already struggling. it will actually harm our economy. unemployment insurance is one of the most effective ways there is to boost our economy. when people have money to spend on basic necessities, that means more customers for our businesses and ultimately more jobs. >> the republicans are focusing on obama care. >> families who work hard and play by the rules deserve some basic choices, fairness and relief. that's why the house has passed legislation to delay the individual mandate for all americans and let you keep the plan you like. these proposals are among the
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dozens of jobs bill awaiting action in the democratic-run senate. good news on the jobs front. 203,000 jobs were added in november, and the unemployment rate dropped to a five-year low of 7%. kristen welker, good saturday morning to you. what's the white house's take on the latest numbers? >> alex, good morning to you. the white house certainly touting the fact that the unemployment rate at its lowest level in five years. also highlighting the fact that a lot of this job growth, good jobs, manufacturing, education, construction. so they say that those are signs that the economy is moving in the right direction. at the same time, as you point out, the white house looking at those numbers and using them to argue that unemployment insurance should be extended for 1.3 million americans. they point out that within those economic figures you can see 4 million americans have been unemployed for six months or
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more. here's what president obama had to say in his weekly address. take a listen. >> for many families it can be the difference between hardship and catastrophe. it makes a difference for a mother who suddenly doesn't know if she will be able to put food on the table for his kids or a father who lost his job and is looking for a new one. last year it ended 2.5 people out of poverty and cushioned the blow for many more. >> now, alex, republicans are making the opposite argument. they are saying that the low unemployment rate or relatively low unemployment rate speaks to the fact that the economy doesn't need more stimulus, that they don't need to extend unemployment insurance. interestingly, though, i'll point out two things. one, the democrats in the white house not insisting that unemployment insurance extension be a part of a budget deal that might be passed next week. and also, alex, there are no big
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tax cuts or spending hikes that are -- spending cuts or tax hikes on the more vie zone. that speaks to the fact that even though you still have democrats, republicans duking it out this, latest budget battle might not threaten what seems to be a recovery that is picking up speed. alex? >> okay. kristen welker, thank you for that. here's our question for you. in light of the improved jobs picture, do you sense the economy has improved. snow sleet, and ice, millions of americans bracing for icy conditions as the storm moves east. it is being blamed for at least 10 deaths. icy conditions are making drive perilous. >> my car was kind of weaving back and forth just because it was so slick. >> and it's scary too. in cincinnati, a bus hit several
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parked cars while the driver tried to manage the icy roads. in kentucky, they were so slick a salt truck overturned after a driver said his tires went off the side of the road. in dallas, heavy snow and ice caused two marinas to collapse. it has canceled two marathons, one in dallas and another in memphis. for more, let's go to reynolds wolf in little rock, arkansas. how bad is it out there? >> you know, parts of the states have been quite treacherous. in little rock, they really did get somewhat of a break. that being said, that is not without any kind of problems. yesterday morning we got things started with temperatures in the 30s. we had some light rain. as the temperatures began to nose dive, things began to freeze up. a lot of the roadways are covered with a nice icy sheet similar to this. there are dry spots.
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if you look pwe mind me, you'll notice these cars are making their way over to interstate 630 but very, very gingerly, and with good reason. very tough to get proper traction. black ice. it's inevitable you will have issues on the roadways. something else we need to talk about, not just the roads but in terms of power. that's a daunting task for a lot of line workers to get out and restore service. the northwestern corner, fort smith, clogged with damaged trees. and at the same time some places really going to be impassable for possibly days. very difficult for the crews to get back out and restore power. 40,000 customers at last count. frustrating times to say the least. skies going to clear up.
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sunshine. but get this, another round of winter weather expected by sunday. back to you. >> oh, thank you for that. that eyes block puts it in perspective. no wonder there are so many accidents. thanks, reynolds. how bad will it get? dylan dreyer is here with the forecast. >> good morning, alex. a second ice storm will make its way into the midwest by tomorrow. for right annoy we are talking about really cold temperatures. thermometer 21 below in billings. feels like 20 below in tupelo and chicago. this is arctic air trying to move in behind the next storm system that is still out in california. the one that pwrut all that ice to parts of oklahoma and arkansas, western tennessee and kentucky, that has exited. out in california, that's where
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we are starting to see the next storm system make its way in. highest elevations, a massive amount of snow. we're going to see that snow move back into the plains, especially the northern plains. then snow and ice possible in eastern arkansas and parts of western tennessee before it changes to rain. by 3:00, snow in maryland and eventually into new york city by 3:00. it should be more of a rain event through southern new england. snowfall totals, another 3 to 6 inches from eastern nebraska into wisconsin. highest elevation back through california will see the most snow. and new york and pennsylvania, 3 to 6 inches as well. so today is going to be fairly quiet, especially where it has been busiest. looking at a high of 2 degrees in minneapolis. tomorrow the snow moves in with a high of only 11. new york city and the rest of the northeast, this next storm
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system doesn't move in until the latter half of the day. to south africa. a nation in mourning over the loss of nelson mandela. flags across the country remain at half-staff and will stay that way until mr. mandela is buried. michelle kaczynski is outside his home. tell us what you are seeing there. >> singing and dancing until at least 3:00 in the morning. even on the second day. i think what immediately strikes you and touches you is the incredible diversity of this crowd. people still coming together with their entire families and their friends. they will come here with a feeling of togetherness of truly moving sense of community. one boy 7 years old, drew a picture of house and trees. he drove here from a tiny
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village four hours away. she said a school was built. she said because of mandela, her child and the other kids there have a good education. plus, a huge pad of flowers on the gates lead to go mandela's home. people having their own gatherings. they will come here where they feel closer to mandela where he lived as well as closer to each other. >> michelle, we're having a little bit of trouble hearing your audio. i have to tell you what i love is how this nation, their mourning is so joyful. they really seem to be celebrating his life. >> yeah. i think it is part of tradition. it's a part of the way they do things here. when you look at his life full of tragedy as well as triumph, there is so much to celebrate. also, this wasn't exactly the
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most sudden passings. they knew it was going to come in the near future. plans have been laid out for some time. so people come here wanting to celebrate the changes that he made. they want to make sure that momentum continues. they want to represent the sense that mandela created, the equality that he established in this country and put it out there for the world to see, that they absolutely want this to not only continue but to grow for there. >> pick up the mantle and carry it forward. michelle kaczynski, thank you so much for that. a bit more on the story in the next half hour for you. what did president obama mean when he said it was like pushing a boulder up a hill. and the age-old question in england would have a lot of people up in arms here in the u.s. a small business credit cd with amazing rewards. with the spark cash card from capital one,
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the thing about having been president for five years is it makes you humbler as to what you as an individual can do. you recognize you're just a sweep of history. and your job really is to push the boulder up the hill a little bit before somebody pushes it up a little further. >> interesting right there. it was the president of course during his "hardball" interview with chris matthews. joining me now is juana summers and lynn sweep. good morning, ladies. nice to have you back. how difficult has it been with the current republican majority in the house? >> well, currently the boulder is a big challenge. but obama mentioned he's been
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president five years. let's remember the first two years he had a democratic house to assist him and he still couldn't get some of the sitting initiatives such as immigration reform. it would have been a lot easier in a democratic house. >> he did get health care. >> yes. with no republican votes. but, alex, i think the point that he said it's interesting, suspect it? he's humbler. i found that interesting. in order to be humble, the opposite had to be true. i think that was an interesting observation. >> they come in idealistic and hopeful. let's face it, they do get beaten down by what they face. what other challenges does the president face in trying to push the boulder up the hill.
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>> one of the biggest challenges is restoring trust between the blighted healthcare roll out and the spying. there's a lack of trust in this administration. he spoke very clearly people need to feel like they can trust their government. that will be a challenge the next couple years.
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the last couple of months is going to new blood in the 2014 races and give some candidates who might not have seen a fighting chance before by people who are hoping to see people in washington get work done for the first time in a while. >> the latest jobs report shows a little more than 200 jobs added last month. unemployment down to 7%, a five-year low. how much of a boost is this for the president? >> well, it should be more of a boost than it is. i'm going to paraphrase. what don't you like? the peace or the prosperity?
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this is a number that would have happened during the campaign last year obama would have been able to have a lot less headaches than he did in running against mitt romney. just as you want to give the administration a lot of minus scores as they deserve for the botched rollout of obama care, 7% unemployment is a pretty good thing to brag about. >> how about the the republicans? are you hearing from them? >> house speaker john bay march with the improving economics there should be less government help given. they are played the case that things are getting better but it's still a fragile situation we have to keep track of. >> yeah. lynn, i want to go over your latest column which focuses on the president's trip to south africa and robben island where nelson mandela was held.
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how much of an impact do you think nelson mandela has had on prison obama? >> well, i was standing just a few feet away from then senator obama in 2006 when he was touring robben island. i had a sense his first trip was a pilgrimage. he started his career, as everyone noted, his interest in politics being an anti-apartheid protesters. coming to robben island, getting the tour, seeing for himself, walking in the path where mandela was. you know, the picture you have on now is on his second visit. this one was last june. he did strike is some of the same pose. but you would do that. because you're looking through the -- you're in the steps of a man who lived the life who walked the walk. and i think on his first trip, seeing it for the first time, the enormity of what it was like
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to live under those conditions for so many years. when you see the limestone quarry that you had to stare out day after day in the blinding sun you could see there was a sense of -- i don't want to say emotion, but a sense of seeing history that influenced you come alive in your life. >> pretty incredible to have covered that. good for you, lynn. and juana summers. ladies, thank you so much. thank you. msnbc will be reairing chris matthews's interview with president obama. he talks 2016, health care as well s. you can watch tomorrow at 3:00 eastern here on msnbc. why someone may never have to ask, do you want fries with that? ♪ [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish,
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in today's three big money headlines, back to work, delaying retirement and tablet to table. regina lewis, good morning to you. let's start with this good news, encouraging jobs report. how do you read it? >> everybody talking about it. 203,000 jobs. the lowest unemployment rate in five years. that's good news. here's what i would add. we are stillwell below an aggregate. 1.3 million jobs short of where we were in 2008. so not entirely back. certain demographic groups including teenagers still having trouble finding work. a lot of jobs are in the retail and construction sector, much smaller numbers in manufacturing where you look for the kind of wages that people are after in order to have a certain threshold of lifestyle. so i would certainly add that to the mix when you're looking at these numbers. going to be a long road back.
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my favorite metric called out this week is people are voluntarily the quitting their jobs, which is a sign they feel like they have the guts to do that because they can go get other jobs. >> okay. that is good. what is it about a change in the retirement age? what's that about? >> in the you can a phased adding the retirement taoeupblg 70, the highest in the west. what's driving this is longer life expectancy. over the course of the last century in britain life expectancy has increased in 10 years. look no further than detroit to know pension costs can really put companies, cities, states and countries already. simultaneously, though, in france and germany they are lowering the retirement age. here in the u.s. it depends on your birthday. 62, 66. for people born after 1960, it is now 67 years old. but life expectancy and playing
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those numbers out is an issue for every household and major countries. >> absolutely. let's take a look at this big change that's coming to a big restaurant chain. it's going to make servers a little bit nervous about their jobs, right? >> yeah. i think so. it has short-term upside. it's tablets on tables. you'll be able to place your orders. tablets cost roughly $100. to your point, somebody did the math and said, okay, if you were working eight hours a day for seven days a week that's 42 cents an hour. that's a pretty low wage. ultimately this could replace a lot of jobs. what they have found short-term in a rollout at chilly's, people say i will have an extra soda. purchase an extra dessert. video games. all e rated. and the average tag is higher. by extension, so are the tips.
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apple bee's and chili's. >> somebody has to deliver the food so that has to stay in place. you stay in place too. see you next week. >> okay. >> the fight for higher wages for fast food workers. >> fast food workers in about 100 cities are pushing for more money. workers say it's nearly impossible to survive on $7.25 an hour. >> the wages are so low some fast food workers have had to resort to a life of crime. or worse, prostitution.
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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt". 31 past the hour. time for your fast five headlines. defense secretary chuck hagel has made an unannounced trip to afghanistan. hagel is not planning to meet with karzai during his stop >> six suspects in the truck carrying radioactive have been released from the hospital. all of them experienced symptoms of radiation exposure. in the wake of last weekend's deadly rail accident, they have until tuesday to identify all lines who have speed changes of 20 miles per hour or more. the railroad is ordered to put extra operators online. new mexico state police officer who shot at the van with children inside has been fired. the incident happened in october during a traffic stop dispute over a speeding ticket. a woman in georgia is facing
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a series of charges for using her 5-year-old son to burglarize her neighbor's house. video from the in-home surveillance shows the boy breaking in through the doingy door. the home owner set up a camera after noticing things missing from her house. the american veteran detained in north korea is heading home. newman arrived last night night hours after his release. he is expected to land in his hometown of san francisco right around noon. newman was traveling on a tourist visa when he boarded the plane to return home, he was taken off the flight and accused of hostile acts. he spoke at the airport. >> i appreciate the tolerance that the government has given to me to be on my way. >> and how do you feel now? >> i feel good. >> ian williams is in beijing. how did newman's release come
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about? >> good morning, alex. joe biden was asked precisely that question while he was in south korea today where he's been looking at the north at the dmz. he said he played no direct role. and he said he had no idea why merrill was released today. north korea said the reason was because of his ill health and because of his age. they also said that he had apologized for his supposed crimes during the korean war. of course newman, we believe, trained south korean guerrillas. a week ago we saw him on television in the north reading what was described as a confession. though it's not clear whether those words were written for him or whether he was forced to read them. he certainly looked uncomfortable. usually when these things have
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happened in the past and north koreans have held american citizens, often waiting until u.s. officials have gone in to pick them up and bring them home. officials do speculate that perhaps in this case with newman's advancing years with the so-called confession that they felt they had milked it for all its propaganda value and that now was the time to appear benevolent and to let him go, alex. >> all right. well, we know he's coming home and safe and sound. that's the good news there. now to south africa. the nation plans a final farewell to its most famous son. funeral arrangements for nelson mandela is being finalized. the official memorial tuesday in johannesburg. and the funeral the 15th.
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>> and air force one will make that trip. former president bill clinton and hillary clinton also expected to attend. no word yet if president obama will fly with presidents obama and bush. weighing on on where he ranks of towering figures the last 100 years. take a listen. >> i think he and gandhi and in america martin luther king are in a category by themselves. gandhi and king were martyred. but the agonizing ordeal of nelson mandela for 27 years and how he came out a better man than when he went in captured the imagination of people as nothing else had. his enduring power is that he showed us that there is true freedom in forgiveness. joining me now, civil rights leader and president of the rainbow push coalition, reverend
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jesse jackson. awfully glad to speak with you. you listened to president clinton. do you agree he belongs in the statues of history with gandhi, martin luther king jr. if not maybe at the top of the list? >> external persecution and the wil will, dignity. they were driven by their suffering. you define them by what they did with the pain. that is to say when mr. mandela chose to use his pain for transformation. to use his pain for reconciliation, revenge or retaliation it took him to different level. >> what was it like to be in the same room as he was. oftentimes there are leaders -- and i will say this is applied to you as well. there are some people you think they take up all the energy because there's something about
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them. he must have had that as well. >> well, he did have a personal magnetism. i remember the first sunday he came out of jail in cape town at south africa at city hall. he walked in the room. having been in jail for 27 years, so aware and so alert. we embraced. he recognized me. he had seen us on television in the campaigns. he shook hands with people. he was so sharp and alert and a great spirit. but the u.s. and britain and south africa had a partnership together. and they were the allies under pressure. as a matter of fact, george bush took mr. mandela off the terrorist list just july 2008. yet he harbored no bitterness towards america, britain or south africa because he saw he would not come down to their level. almost as if he forgives them
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for they know not what they do. >> walk us through that moment, what you saw, what struck you about the man. >> well, the thing that struck me was the maze running down the hall. people running down the streets free at last, free at last. it unleashed many pinned up years of desires and ambitions. of course the legacy he leaves is skin color humiliation and political apartheid. at that time if you walked down the street and you were black you had to have a passbook. there was apartheid there. the two systems are very much alike. and he embody the the hopes and dreams. he was not just selling himself free. he would not come out until he had the power to set the country free. blacks and whites now learn to live together. >> you were also there in attendance when he was
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inaugurated. talk about that. and the mood. >> when the planes flew across our heads, it shifted the power. to see him go from prison to president and then see the prison become a museum, see the revolution take place in our own eyes. the king of course defined by persecution and suffering. mr. mandela became a living martyr. so he had the power beyond that. mr. gandhi was killed. dr. king was killed. he survived years beyond his imprisonment and became this huge global moral authority. and against the odds of being considered a terrorist. to go from considered a terrorist to moral authority, the most in the world world, i think about how long the world kept mr. mandela on the
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terrorist list, until july 2008. that's a source of shame to us. leadership led by the people like robinson and roger wilkins and holmes-norton. they laid the groundwork for his freedom. he always suppressed appreciation. >> may i ask you the last time you met with him and when you left if you got a sense that it would be the last time. >> it was difficult for him to hear at that time. he came to have a meeting. we took pictures together. we laughed. and i asked him about the farm where he finally was captured. and he said something interesting. he changed gears. he said, you know, that was the place i was captured. not full of regrets. and i didn't understand that. he said he became the commander of the military forces. they had been blowing up railroads and infrastructure trying to get south africa's
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attention. that was not working. they planned to escalate and maybe blow up a hospital or school or something of that sort. he said he would rather have been caught and spent 26 years in jail rather than have the blood of innocent people on his hands. and i just trembled when he said it. >> thank you. always a pleasure. good to see you. president obama calls for a hike in the minimum wage. [ female announcer ] think all pads are the same? don't. [ woman ] the technology in these pads... best creation ever! [ female announcer ] always infinity. the only pad made with foam not fluff so mind-blowingly thin, you'll be surprised it's up to 55% more absorbent. genius. always infinity. you can fill that box and pay one flat rate. how naughty was he? oh boy... [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.
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and that's why it's well past the time to raise a minimum wage that in real terms is below where it was when harry truman was in office. joining me now gregory meeks, a member of the financial services and foreign affairs committee. welcome back to the show. you heard the president throwing his weight behind that. he wants the federal minimum wage to $10.10 in a couple of years. what's the shot of that happening? >> well, i think it has to happen. and i dare someone not vote for it. i would love to see even some of my republican colleagues not vote for it. we should put it on as a budget initiative if they want to move forward. i should say it's a state initiative. people would have to vote on state to state. it is something that will help the overall economy and help
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everybody. it is the way to go. we have to continue to talk about it. >> you had a lot of fast food workers talking about their protests. what's the most likelihood of that? >> well, you're negotiating. that's what's happening. you try to negotiate something. that would be benefit. it would raise the rates for everyone. i would hope, as you talked about last week, it's important we raise the minimum wage, give a quality education so they can also get better paying jobs. i'm not just happy for minimum wage jobs. go into businesses for themselves. that's the way we stabilize our economy and move forward. we start with our educational system to make it happen. >> critics will say, okay, you raise minimum wage so much, save
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that $15 an hour, you're basically able at this price to get two workers for the price of one. >> well, look, what is clear, and i think what the president talked about in his speech also, if you look at the wage gap of the top 1%, it is substantial. and i don't begrudge anyone on the top making as much money as we can. but we can't hold down the wages of those on the bottom. this is what this is all about. you know, make sure that we are raising from the bottom up on individuals. because it only helps the economy. they will spend more money for food and clothing and the essentials that are necessary. it helps the economy overall. it helps -- a lot of times you talk about fast food, et cetera, people trying to pay for an education. it helps them get their way through the struggles and makes it so we can be more competitive. when you look at the bigger
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picture it is better or for the country. it creates more jobs, keeps us more competitive and i think we would be better off. >> i want to have people eavesdrop about unemployment and about how the benefits are set to expire three days after christmas. the white house said this will impact a million and a half people. if you don't continue to pay the benefits. >> well, it is absolutely a must for me. i don't think we can have an agreement without extending unemployment insurance. too many americans. again, talking about not just democrats. >> right. >> you look at people who were affected because they are unemployed now. it's americans across the board. one of the things any budget deal we have it must include an extension of unemployment insurance. it would hurt too many americans. and i can't imagine us striking a deal without an extension of unemployment insurance. >> you have six days to get it
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all done. >> the deadline is the 28th. >> representative meeks, always a pleasure. >> good to be with you. >> should great masterpieces be sold off to save a city? if you've got copd like me, hey breathing's hard. know the feeling? copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that helps open my obstructed airways for a full 24 hours. spiriva helps me breathe easier. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation.
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three, two, one. >> there you go. the first family taking part in the 91st annual tree lighting ceremony. 17,000 people attended. looks like fun. not fun if you are facing bankruptcy. would you sell your most cherished possessions? this week a federal judge gave the city the go ahead to declare bankruptcy and is putting the city's expensive art possession into a perilous position. so is it worth it? joining me is catherine boyle
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for the "washington post". catherine, what an interesting position. christy's looked only at the works bought with city dollars. it constitutes maybe 5% of the entire collection. so should that price estimating taken with a large grain of salt? >> i think a lot of people thought it was a pretty low estimate. the original estimates that were done independently by the detroit free press were between $1 billion and $2 billion. some people had it as high as $8 billion, which was exceedingly hot. that sort of low appraisal will help the institute of arts. >> it's got to be a pretty substantial collection. van gogh, rembrandt. >> this is one of the greaten sigh khroe beadic works. so these are works that if they
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go to the auction block there are very few people who can afford to buy them. many were head overseas to qatar or russia because they are such expensive, priceless works. >> that would be for private hands. >> if they go to auction it would be very, very difficult to control who buys the works. that would be the worst case skin narrow. they are hoping to have some sort of arrangement where a museum can come in and help them maintain the collection without necessarily lose the money. that's one of the things they're trying to do. >> we mentioned the peas of art purchased by the city. the city has been given a lot of pieces. could the donated pieces be sold? >> well, that's the thing. there's a lot of complications in this. if the donated pieces become part of the bankruptcy feeling, i think there would be a lot of lawsuits. people would try to fight
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against someone donating a work, then being able to make money for the city. i don't think it would go that far. the city has a good point that these 2,000 works could easily be sold if even orr, the emergency manager, decides he wants to monetize the collection. >> the museum is strongly opposed to this. people in the art world -- well, tell me what the reaction is there. >> i think horror. this is very unprecedented if a great collection of this size were to hit the auction block. the only other example i can think of is in the 1920s, the soviets sold off works from the hermitage museum. we actually benefited from that. at least 20 raphaels came from hermitage. when you think how it is one of the dark spots this would be even worse than that. it would be so public and so many works. so i think that people are -- would be shocked and saddened to see a great collection not only
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for detroit but the u.s. >> it is an extraordinary story detroit finds itself in. catherine boyle, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> that's a wrap of this hour with weekends with alex witt. straight ahead, we've got up with steve kornacki. impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 70% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing.
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♪ [ male announcer ] laura's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. >> nelson mandela long walk to freedom took him right through the united states capitol. at the start of this saturday in december with much of the country locked in a deep freeze. we are thawing out this morning with questions ability some of the new things we've discovered. did you know as recently as five years ago, nelson mandela needed a special waiver just to travel in the united states. we're going to talk about why that was and why it took so long for that not to be the case anymore. there are also always things we know this week, from the wide

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